Placing Wardak among Pashto varieties

358 Pages·2016·6.07 MB·English

by  Coyle D.V.

PLACING WARDAK AMONG PASHTO VARIETIES
by
Dennis Walter Coyle
Bachelor of Science, University of Arizona, 1984
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of the
University of North Dakota
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts
Grand Forks, North Dakota
August
2014
© 2014 Dennis Walter Coyle
ii
This thesis, submitted by Dennis Walter Coyle in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of Master of Arts from the University of North Dakota, has been read by the
Faculty Advisory Committee under whom the work has been done and is hereby approved.
___________________________________________________________________
John M. Clifton, Chair
___________________________________________________________________
Mark E. Karan
___________________________________________________________________
Adam Baker
This thesis is being submitted by the appointed advisory committee as having met all
of the requirements of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of North Dakota and
is hereby approved.
_______________________________________________
Dr. Wayne Swisher
Dean, School of Graduate Studies
_______________________________________________
Date
iii
PERMISSION
Title Placing Wardak among Pashto Varieties
Department Linguistics
Degree Master of Arts
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree
from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this University shall make it
freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive copying for
scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my thesis work or, in
his absence, by the chairperson of the department or the dean of the School of Graduate
Studies. It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this thesis or part
thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also
understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of North Dakota
in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis.
Signature Dennis Walter Coyle
Date July 1, 2014

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
LIST OF FIGURES x 
LIST OF TABLES xii 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xvi 
ABSTRACT xviii 
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION 1 
1.1  Afghanistan Overview 5 
1.2  Pashtun Overview 8 
1.3  Wardak Tribe 10 
1.4  Pashto Classification 13 
1.5  Historical Pashto Variety Divisions 15 
2 PLACING WARDAK WITHIN PASHTO VARIETIES 19 
2.1  Four Groupings of Pashtun Tribes 22 
2.1.1  Historical Roots of Pashtun Tribes 22 
2.1.2  Relation of Pashtun Tribe to Ethnic Group 26 
2.1.3  Pashtun Confederacies 29 
2.2  Prestige Relations among the Confederacies 34 
2.2.1  Abdali/Durrani Confederacy and Rule over Afghanistan 35 
2.2.2  Eastern Confederacy Prestige 38 
2.2.3  Ghilji Identity 39 
2.2.4  Karlani Influence 41 
2.3  Relation of Pashtun Confederacies to Pashto Speech Varieties 42 
3 THREE STANDARD PASHTO VARIETIES 48 
v
3.1  Educated Standard Pashto – Introducing Diglossia 48 
3.1.1  Diglossia Defined 48 
3.1.2  Educated Standard Pashto 51 
3.1.3  Standard Pashto Compared to Ferguson’s High 52 
3.2  Tools to Explore Regional Pashto Varieties 55 
3.2.1  Relationships between Vernaculars and
Regional Standard Varieties 55 
3.2.2  Measure of Influence of Vernacular
on Regional Standard Variety 59 
3.3  Regional Standard Pashto Varieties 63 
3.3.1  Kandahar Regional Pashto 63 
3.3.2  Jalalabad Regional Pashto 64 
3.3.3  Kabul City Pashto Varieties 71 
3.3.4  Kabul Regional Standard Pashto 74 
3.4  Prestige Standard Pashto 81 
3.5  Standard Pashto Summarized 82 
4 ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY 84 
4.1  Individual Assessment Methodologies 87 
4.1.1  Word Lists 87 
4.1.2  Recorded Text Tests 89 
4.1.3  Sociolinguistic Questionnaire 91 
4.2  Locations Surveyed 93 
4.3  Selection of Respondents 94 
5 LEXICAL SIMILARITY BETWEEN WARDAK AND PRESTIGE VARIETIES 99 
5.1  Respondents 99 
5.2  Analysis Methodology 103 
5.3  Results – Word List Lexicostatistic Comparisons 104 
6 COMPREHENSION BETWEEN WARDAK AND OTHER PASHTO VARIETIES 108 
vi
6.1  Recorded Text Testing Story Data 109 
6.2  Respondent Data 112 
6.2.1  Respondents from Wardak to the other RTT Stories 113 
6.2.2  Respondents to the Wardak RTT Story 115 
6.2.3  Respondents Involving Prestige Areas 116 
6.3  Comprehension Results from RTT Assessments 117 
6.3.1  Comparison between Wardak and
non-Wardak Pashto Varieties 119 
6.3.2  Comparison between Wardak and
Prestige Pashto Varieties 123 
6.3.3  Comparison between Wardak and
Non-Wardak Karlani Varieties 130 
6.3.4  Comparison between Wardak and Ghazni Pashto 134 
6.3.5  Comparison between Prestige Pashto Varieties 139 
6.3.6  Comparison between Education Levels 143 
6.3.7  Comparison between Previous Contact Levels 146 
6.3.8  Conclusions from RTT Testing 157 
7 ATTITUDES BETWEEN WARDAK AND OTHER PASHTO VARIETIES 168 
7.1  Reported Language Use of Wardak Pashtuns 169 
7.1.1  Wardak Reported Language Use and Attitude Respondents 169 
7.1.2  Reported Language Use in Low Domains 171 
7.1.3  Reported Language Use in Religious and
Administration Settings 172 
7.1.4  Reported Language Use in Education and Media 173 
7.1.5  Reported Language Use in Travel 173 
7.1.6  Summary 174 
7.2  Reported Language Attitudes of Wardak Residents 175 
7.2.1  Concerning the Family and Expectations for the Future 175 
7.2.2  Concerning Education with Respect to Literacy at School 176 
vii
7.2.3  Summary 177 
7.3  Similar and Favorite Pashto Opinions from All Regions 177 
7.3.1  Respondent Data: All Regions 179 
7.3.2  Wardak Responses 185 
7.3.3  Durrani Confederacy Responses 189 
7.3.4  Eastern Confederacy Responses 192 
7.3.5  Non-Wardak Karlani Confederacy Responses 195 
7.3.6  Ghazni Responses 199 
7.3.7  Conclusions from Attitudes on Best and Worst Pashto 203 
7.4  Social Networks 207 
7.4.1  Respondents to Social Network Questionnaire 208 
7.4.2  Wardak Social Network Questionnaire Results 209 
7.4.3  Kandahar Social Network Questionnaire Results 211 
7.4.4  Conclusion from Social Network Data 212 
8 CONCLUSION 213 
8.1  Wardak – Dialect within Afghan Pashto 216 
8.2  Other Research Questions 220 
8.2.1  At Least Four Pashto Varieties 221 
8.2.2  At Least Two Karlani Varieties 223 
8.2.3  Southern Distinct from Northern 231 
8.2.4  Summary – At Least Four or Five Pashto Dialects 233 
8.2.5  Afghanistan Pashto – Not a Macrolanguage 236 
8.2.6  Future Research 238 
8.3  Wardak Development not Needed for Many 241 
8.4  Wardak Development Needed for Some 242 
8.5  Wardak Development Needed for Identity Reasons 243 
8.6  Fully Pashtun, Fully Wardak 244 
viii
APPENDICES 246 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 338 

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Major Languages of Afghanistan ....................................................................................... 6 
2. Pashtun Majority Areas of Afghanistan ............................................................................ 9 
3. Wardak Province ............................................................................................................. 10 
4. Classification of Pashto ................................................................................................... 14 
5. Pashtun Majority Areas of Afghanistan .......................................................................... 21 
6. Sulaiman Mountains ....................................................................................................... 23 
7. Natural Descendents of Qais ........................................................................................... 24 
8. Distribution of Pashtun Confederacies ............................................................................ 29 
9. Pashtun Migrations ......................................................................................................... 31 
10. Qais' Descendents including Karlan ................................................................................ 33 
11. Kandahar at Crossroads of Two Empires ........................................................................ 35 
12. Possible Relations Involving Historical Karlani Confederacy Pashto .............................. 44 
13. Regional Standard Form the same as one Vernacular .................................................... 56 
14. Regional Standard Form a Combination of all the Vernaculars ...................................... 57 
15. Regional Standard Form is Different from all Vernaculars ............................................. 57 
16. All Vernaculars Close to Identical ................................................................................... 58 
17. No Regional Form Exists ................................................................................................. 58 
18. Nangarhar Province ........................................................................................................ 65 
19. Kabul Province Language Map........................................................................................ 71 
20. Pashto Word List Comparisons ....................................................................................... 75 
21. Influences on Standard Pashto Varieties ......................................................................... 83 
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